In March, my wife and I took a trip to Europe with our first stop being in Paris. Since we had been to Paris before, we decided this would be a good trip to try and venture out to Versailles and see the famous palace which was made the location of the Royal Court and largely expanded by King Louis XIV. The site of the palace is a large tract of land that is beautifully maintained, adorned with sculptures, hedges, water features and more. It’s a pretty easy trip to make from Paris, but due to the size of it you should plan to spend a whole day there, or at least half.
Getting to Versailles
Personally, I think the easiest/best way to get there from Paris proper is by train. The RER C route will take you right to the town of Versailles and within a 5 minute walk of the front of the palace, if you go to the Versailles Chateau Rive Gauche station. If you’ve already taken the train into Paris from the airport, then you’ve had some experience with RER. With the particular route to Versailles, it is important to make sure that your train’s terminus is in Versailles, because the C route has two or 3 different splits that could get you farther away than you intended to go.
In our case, we took this train to Champ de Mars (basically a stop for the Eiffel Tower), and then got out and saw the Tower as the sun was going down, which is a great time to see it.
Another option is to take a bus there, I believe in order to bus there you take route 171. However, the Paris busses are much more confusing than the train and also have the potential of getting caught in traffic.
You can also drive to Versailles, and there was plenty of parking (for a price, of course). If you’re in Paris and not used to driving in Europe, this is probably not the most stress-free idea. It also doesn’t really save you any time or money vs. taking the train. However, if you do decide to do this, you can park right in front of the palace (I believe it was 25 euros for a whole day).
It is also possible to take a train a bit outside of the center of Paris, like La Défense, to pick up your rental car. Doing so could save you from having to navigate some of the more hectic roads in Inner Paris and give you a smoother trip to the Palace of Versailles.
Gaining Admission to the Palace and gardens of Versailles
When you arrive, you will probably see multiple lines coming out of the front of the Palace. At least one of these lines is to obtain tickets into the Palace for those who hadn’t already, and at least one other is for actual entrance to the Palace. Visitors are given tickets that specify a time to enter, similar to other sites in Paris.
For non-EU citizen adults, I believe the entry to the Palace was 19 euros, and the entry to the Trianon (a retreat for the royal family separate from the royal court of the palace) was an additional 11 euros. For EU citizens up to age 26, it is free for all of this. However, if you arrive before your time slot, you can still enter the gardens of Versailles for free. On the day we were there, many of the sculptures were sadly covered (I believe in case of protestors against the retirement age increase), but there were teams of rowers practicing in the water there which looked nice.
For us, it rained a bit during our stroll through the gardens, so we and many others dipped into La Flotille, which was a nice little café near the lake that had really good food. I had a ham and cheese galette (similar to a crepe) and we split a bottle of wine. The gardens themselves were big enough to spend the better part of a day in, and when everything is fully in bloom I am told it is an incredibly beautiful place. I enjoyed it even without the blooming, so I could only imagine what it’s like later in the Spring.
After you’ve seen all you want to see in the garden, you can enter into the palace at your designated time slot. To get in, you have to wait in line to show your ticket and pass through a security checkpoint. Once you’re through, you can generally follow the crowd to the Hall of Mirrors and other popular things, where you will find plenty of up & coming influencer types, as well as history buffs, and every other sort of tourist and local along the way.
We spent close to 3 hours inside the palace, and I believe that we saw only a fraction of what there was to see. Most of the palace revolves around Louis XIV, but after a certain point there is a sense of chronology that comes into play, and you will see paintings and artifacts from the Royal Family that was present around the time of the revolution, and then lots of paintings and artifacts of Napoleon. This is because Napoleon moved into the palace in 1804, and when it was turned into a museum, a significant part of it was dedicated to him and his reign.
Conclusion
Every room within the palace is adorned with some kind of gold, or elaborate art work depicting a given person, battle, or royal event. It is one of the most beautiful buildings that I have personally ever been in, and I definitely think it is worth the trip even just for the gardens and views of the outside. I will say if you brush up on your French history from Louis XIV to Napoleon’s reign, you will get much more out of your visit than most people would, as there were plenty of “Easter Eggs” for those who possess more knowledge than I on these subjects.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more on Paris coming soon!
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How to plan a trip to the Palace of Versailles from Paris (without a tour guide)
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